My beloved friends and family,
This week was full of the Spirit and full of nerves.
On Tuesday, I had the hard task of leading the area with Elder Nagarthnam. Essentially what that means is that another missionary and I worked in Magsingal, but I had to be in charge of everything. It was really hard, and I was glad it turned out okay. No pictures of that in the album, but I wanted share about that. We were still able to find new people, and we were able to meet the father of one of our referrals.
On Friday, we went to Zone Conference in Laoag. The first picture in the album is the chapel in Laoag that we went to.
We spent all day there and were edified by the teaching and testimonies of the mission president, the assistants, missionaries headed home, and the special guests, the family of the mission president. They all flew to the Philippines to spend a few weeks with their parents, so they got to speak to all of us. The second picture in the album is Elder Isorena and I.
Elder Isorena is a missionary waiting for a visa, so he served in the mission for a few months. He entered the field at the same time as me, but now he’s headed to the States to learn Korean, and then to his actual mission in Korea. He’s a chill dude and full of wisdom. After zone conference, we received our packages from home. My mom made beard hats for my companion and I, and my companion was real happy to get one, even if it was a bit small. I was not able to get a picture of him wearing it. Maybe next week.
Other than that,food, clothes, and a sadly crushed Christmas tree, as well as paper and plastic snowflakes, arrived well.
On Saturday, we met with a family who has a cute doggo and a cute apo (grandson). The last picture in the album is the kid and the dog.
On Sunday, we went to Vigan to watch a special broadcast by Elder Holland and the Philippines Area Presidency to the whole Philippines for the groundbreaking for the new Urdaneta Philippines temple. We were able to be given much sage advice and counsel. Elder Holland especially emphasized how much we need to be obedient to the commandments of God to prepare for the Second Coming.
I hope all of you are having a good time in your lives. I pray for you and wish you the best.
Love and thanks,
Elder Tripp
Answers to Mom’s questions:
We don’t really cook a lot at the house. It’s really expensive to cook, so the thing we cook most is eggs and Pancit Canton (essentially the Ramen of the Philippines). I haven’t been able to do much “American” cooking because everything is so different here. None of our pans are nonstick, and flour and milk are expensive, so cooking is dramatically different. I’m really not sure how to cook anything here, so I’m often left eating a lot of sandwiches and eggs.
Tagalog
apo - grandson